Skip to main content

Table 1 Characteristics of women (n = 5839) according to their choice of contraception

From: Use of reproductive health services among women using long- or short-acting contraceptive methods – a register-based cohort study from Finland

Characteristic

All participants

N = 5839

LARC initiation

n = 1689

SARC initiation or switch n = 1524

SARC continuation n = 2626

Age, median (IQR)

24.3 (19.9, 30.5)

28.9 (23.5, 33.9)

20.2 (17.5, 25.2)

23.9 (20.4, 29.3)

Age categories, years, n (%)

 15–19

1516 (26.0)

195 (11.5)

744 (48.8)

577 (22.0)

 20–24

1641 (28.1)

342 (20.2)

385 (25.3)

914 (34.8)

 25–29

1128 (19.3)

390 (23.1)

191 (12.5)

547 (20.8)

 30–34

872 (14.9)

428 (25.3)

106 (7.0)

338 (12.9)

 35–44

682 (11.7)

334 (19.8)

98 (6.4)

250 (9.5)

Married, n (%)

1342 (23.0)

696 (41.2)

183 (12.0)

463 (17.6)

History of delivery, n (%)

1801 (30.8)

1134 (67.1)

256 (16.8)

411 (15.7)

History of induced abortion, n (%)

876 (15.0)

405 (24.0)

174 (11.4)

297 (11.3)

History of pregnancy, n (%)

2246 (38.5)

1267 (75.0)

354 (23.2)

625 (23.8)

Native language other than Finnish or Swedish, n (%)

673 (11.5)

304 (18.0)

190 (12.5)

179 (6.8)

Socioeconomic statusa, n (%)

 Upper-level employees b

449 (7.7)

191 (11.3)

76 (5.0)

182 (6.9)

 Lower-level employees or manual workers c

3337 (57.2)

964 (57.1)

714 (46.9)

1659 (63.2)

 Students

1263 (21.6)

231 (13.7)

551 (36.2)

481 (18.3)

 Long-term unemployed

331 (5.7)

115 (6.8)

73 (4.8)

143 (5.4)

 Entrepreneurs, pensioners, and others not elsewhere classified

443 (7.6)

182 (10.8)

105 (6.9)

156 (5.9)

 Unknown

16 (0.3)

6 (0.4)

5 (0.3)

5 (0.2)

Educational attainment, n (%)

 Doctoral, master, or equivalent level

287 (4.9)

147 (8.7)

37 (2.4)

103 (3.9)

 Bachelor or equivalent level

825 (14.1)

314 (18.6)

106 (7.0)

405 (15.4)

 Short-cycle tertiary education

93 (1.6)

33 (2.0)

9 (0.6)

51 (1.9)

 Upper secondary education

2582 (44.2)

681 (40.3)

494 (32.4)

1407 (53.6)

 Unknown d

2052 (35.1)

514 (30.4)

878 (57.6)

660 (25.1)

History of STI within the previous year, n (%)

125 (2.1)

28 (1.7)

41 (2.7)

56 (2.1)

Visit for gynecological reasons in primary or specialized care or visit in the family planning clinics within the previous year, n (%)

2925 (50.1)

1157 (68.5)

498 (32.7)

1270 (48.4)

History of mental health disorder diagnoses in adulthood (ICD-10 codes F10–F16, F18–69, F99) e, n (%)

611 (10.5)

229 (13.6)

160 (10.5)

222 (8.5)

LARC type, n (%)

 LNG-IUS

 

1003 (59.4)

 Implant

 

533 (31.6)

 Cu-IUD

 

153 (9.1)

  1. aSocioeconomic status of the youngest age group could also be derived from their family’s socioeconomic status
  2. b Administrative, managerial, professional, and related occupations
  3. c Administrative and clerical occupations or manual workers
  4. d Comprises women with only basic education, as well as without education in Finland, and those not graduating elementary school
  5. e Diagnosed within the previous years in primary or specialized care
  6. LARC long-acting reversible contraceptive (i.e. intrauterine device or system or contraceptive implant); SARC short-acting reversible contraceptive (i.e. pills, patches or rings); LNG-IUS levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system;Cu-IUD, copper intrauterine device; STI sexually transmitted infections, chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis; SD standard deviation; ICD-10 The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision
  7. The groups differed significantly for all variables except for history of STI tested with T-test for continuous variables, χ2-test for categorical variables